Christmas mental wellbeing toolkit

Stay well this Christmas

This year we’re going to see a different sort of Christmas and many of us could be feeling anxious or stressed, or experiencing low mood or loneliness.

Whether you’re celebrating or not, seeing family or on your own, worrying about health or
finances, feeling peaceful or frazzled, there is help available right through the festive season.

You can find links below to self-care tips to help take care of your emotional wellbeing, support
for difficult times and where to find help in a crisis.

Mental health support is available during the Christmas and New Year holidays:

Making time for self-care is really important to help us stay well.

• Christmas can be a busy time. If you feel overwhelmed, try breaking problems down or pick one task and focus on that: www.mindwell-leeds.org.uk/coping-with-stress
• Find ways to take time out for yourself: www.mindwell-leeds.org.uk/coronavirus-self-care
• Practise relaxation and breathing techniques: www.mindwell-leeds.org.uk/relax
• Try mindfulness: www.mindwell-leeds.org.uk/be-mindful
• Eat nourishing food, cut back on alcohol and take regular moderate exercise:
www.mindwell-leeds.org.uk/coronavirus-physical-health
• Get a good night’s sleep: www.mindwell-leeds.org.uk/sleep
• Try volunteering and help others celebrate: www.doinggoodleeds.org.uk
• Take a detox from social media.

Find resources, information and support for help with worries and problems.

• Find help for debt or money worries: www.leeds.gov.uk/leedsmic
• Coping with bereavement or loss at Christmas can be hard:
www.mindwell-leeds.org.uk/bereavement-self-help
• Get tools to help cope with anxiety: www.mindwell-leeds.org.uk/anxiety
• Find festive events for Leeds communities:
www.mindwell-leeds.org.uk/christmas-events
• Find tips for safer drinking, see Forward Leeds: www.forwardleeds.co.uk
Many people struggle at Christmas. Don’t be afraid to reach out if you need help.

See www.mindwell-leeds.org.uk/help for details of helplines and places you can go for
support, including opening times.

Getting urgent help in a mental health crisis.

In Leeds ring LYPFT on freephone 0800 183 1485 (open 24/7, every day).

You can print and keep the Mindwell resource ‘How to find help in a mental health crisis’ for
details of support available in Leeds for people in crisis. You can find it on the ‘I need
help now page’: www.mindwell-leeds.org.uk/help

For young people in Leeds there is lots of information about what to do if you need urgent help on the Mindmate website https://www.mindmate.org.uk/

For young people in York you can contact your local CAMHS crisis and liaison team using the freephone telephone number 0800 0516 171 (open 24/7, every day).

Please remember if there is an immediate threat to life, call 999.

 

 

This toolkit has been created by Mindwell Leeds – you can download a PDF copy from their website www.mindwell-leeds.org.uk/christmas-toolkit